Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has launched a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times over an article alleging the rape of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli soldiers.
In an opinion piece titled ‘The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians’ published by the paper on Monday, columnist Nicholas Kristof interviewed 14 alleged victims of sexual abuse.
In the testimonies, several sources alleged being raped countless times with batons by Israeli prison guards, while others, Kristof wrote, had their genitals beaten or yanked. One reportedly had to have them amputated because of severe injuries.
In another instance of alleged abuse, he quoted an anonymous Gazan journalist who said he had been raped by a dog as soldiers laughed and took photos.
A statement released by Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday called the piece ‘one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press.’
It confirmed that the PM and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have ‘instructed the initiation of a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times.’
A source told the Mail that Netanyahu is prepared to put himself forward as the plaintiff.
In his piece, Kristof argued that while Israeli leaders may not explicitly order rape, the country’s security apparatus has fostered an environment where sexual violence is a key component of Palestinian mistreatment.
He added that Netanyahu labelled reports of sexual violence as ‘baseless,’ similar to how Hamas dismissed claims of rape during the October 7 attacks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar have launched a defamation lawsuit against The New York Times
In an opinion piece for the paper titled ‘The Silence That Meets the Rape of Palestinians’, columnist Nicholas Kristof interviewed 14 alleged victims of sexual abuse
In response to the column, Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs took to social media on Tuesday to strongly condemn the article, claiming the NY Times ‘chose to publish one of the worst blood libels ever to appear in the modern press.’
The post continued: ‘In an unfathomable inversion of reality, and through an endless stream of baseless lies, propagandist Nicholas Kristof turns the victim into the accused.
‘Israel – whose citizens were the victims of the most horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on Oct 7, and whose hostages were later subjected to further sexual abuse – is portrayed as the guilty party.’
‘This publication is no coincidence. It is part of a false and well-orchestrated anti-Israel campaign aimed at placing Israel on the UN Secretary-General’s blacklist.
‘Israel will fight these lies with the truth – and the truth will prevail.’
In a separate post, the Foreign Ministry alleged that The NY Times deliberately published Kristof’s column ahead of the release of the most comprehensive report to date on October 7 sexual violence.
‘A politically driven smear campaign by a biased paper designed to support efforts to blacklist Israel. This disgusting shameful piece must be removed immediately,’ the ministry added.
‘Blood libel’ is a harmful antisemitic trope, originating in the Middle Ages, that falsely accuses Jews of murdering Christians for religious rituals.
The term has evolved to encompass any modern, malicious conspiracy theory or false accusation targeting Jewish people and Israel
In the article, the columnist cited a speech where Netanyahu demanded global condemnation of Hamas’s October 7 sexual violence, asking, ‘Where the hell are you?’
‘Think of it this way: The horrific abuse inflicted on Israeli women on Oct 7 now happens to Palestinians day after day,’ Kristof wrote.
‘It persists because of silence, indifference and the failure of American and Israeli officials alike to answer Netanyahu’s query: Where the hell are you?’
Kristof went on to claim that the US is ‘complicit’ in the alleged sexual violence, as US tax dollars subsidise the Israeli security establishment.
Honest Reporting, a pro-Israel media watchdog, alleged inconsistencies in a key complainant’s account, claiming they previously expressed pro-Hamas views.
Several prominent figures have spoken out against the column, with journalist David Collier accusing the publication of ‘acting like a Hamas mouthpiece to deliberately spread misinformation.’
Journalist and commentator Emily Schrader added that spreading ‘absurd claims’ that Israel uses dogs to rape Palestinians make a ‘mockery’ of victims of sexual violence.
These new allegations mirror accounts from Sde Teiman military prison, where in July 2024 CCTV footage appeared to show several Israeli guards sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee.
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A prisoner later required treatment in hospital for internal injuries, including tears to his rectum and a punctured lung.
The soldiers were charged with aggravated abuse and causing serious bodily harm, but the charges were dropped in March 2026 – a decision praised by Netanyahu.
The Daily Mail was the first British newspaper granted advance access to the new report on October 7 sexual violence, authored by the independent Israeli women’s rights NGO, The Civil Commission.
Fittingly titled ‘Silenced No More’, it highlights over 430 testimonies from witnesses, survivors, and medical staff detailing horrors from the Nova music festival and Kibbutzim attacks.
Returning hostages and experts provided evidence of systematic sexual violence and abuse by Hamas terrorists.
It shows it was not just women who were degraded as a ‘deliberate tool of terror, humiliation, and control’. Men were also sexually abused and in at least one case gang raped.
Victims were mutilated, with body parts cut off and used to create depraved scenes gleefully concocted to traumatise those who discovered them.
Those taken hostage were assaulted in front of loved ones and young relatives forced to commit sex acts on each other, an intentional, premeditated strategy of kinocide to destroy family units even after release from captivity.
The report runs to over 180 pages of utterly harrowing evidence, which collates and corroborates previous testimonies – as well as revealing disturbing new accounts.
The Civil Commission, funded by philanthropic organisations and its archive supported by the German Embassy in Israel, examined over 10,000 photographs and videos of the attack totalling more than 1,800 hours of visual analysis.
